Charcoal burner



May 22, 1962 E. KEENEY 3,035,566

CHARCOAL BURNER Filed Aug. 2l, 1958 INVENTOR.

United States Patent O 3,035,566 CHARCOAL BURNER Edward Keeney, 121-133 W. 2nd St., Oconomowoc, Wis. Filed Aug. 21, 1958, Ser. No. 756,330 6 Claims. (Cl. 126-25) This invention relates generally to picnic cooking devices and more particularly to a charcoal burner which may be used `alone or in combination with conventional grills.

When charcoal briquets are burned in conventional grills -a solid bed of re results. This solid Ibed of fire is undesirable for proper cooking because the heat rising from the fire will always vortex to the center of the bed and produce a center hot spot. This causes uneven heating, center burning and raw edge cooking of the food.

The instant invention provides a structure that has a central opening in the bottom of the container to produce an annular bed for the burning charcoal and thereby eliminate the center hot spot. Thus, when a pan or other cooking utensil or meat is placed above the container, in proper spaced relation, a more uniform heating is obtained. That is, the heat is distributed evenly over the upper surface of the burning fuel and the center hot spot is eliminated.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved charcoal burning device that yields an even heat and prevents a hot center.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a low `cost charcoal burner, which is simple in structure, and economical to manufacture.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a charcoal burner which produces an annular bed for the coals.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a preformed blank of foraminous sheet material which is so designed that it is ready for forming manually into a charcoal burner at the time of use without the necessity of tools.

Other objects and advantages of this present invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. l is a perspective view of a preformed blank of perforated material embodying the instant invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the assembled burner;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is la fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings, and first to FIGS. 2-4, there will be seen a charcoal burner designated generally by the numeral incorporating the principles of this invention.

The burner 10 is made of relatively heavy gauge aluminum foil or thin sheet stock more or less uniformly perforated throughout by perforations 11 and comprises a flat bottom 12 having an opening 13 in the center portion thereof; an inner upstanding Wall 14 adjacent the opening 13 comprising sections 16, 18, 20 and 22 being integrally connected thereto; and an outer upstanding Wall 24 cornprising sections 26, 28, 30 and 32 integrally connected to the peripheral edge of the bottom 12. Wall sections 28 and 32 `are provided at corresponding ends with extended portions or flanges 34 and 36 respectively which are oriented at right angles and overlap Wallr30. Similarly, the other ends of wall sections 28 land 32 are provided with extending portions or anges 38 and 40 for overlapping wall section 26. Flanges 34, 36, 38 and 40 are provided with tabs 42 for insertion in certain of the perforations 11 in the adjacent wall sections 26 and 30.

'n' I Aice Y,

Ends 44 of tabs 42, as shown in FIG. 4, are bent around the wall section 26 thereby interlocking the adjacent wall sections.

FIG. l illustrates a preformed blank of perforated sheet material designated generally by the numeral 46 for forming into the charcoal burner 10 as described hereinbefore.

The sheet or blank 46, preferably of aluminum foil of relatively heavy gauge, is provided with the plurality of perforations 11 as by a punching operation, although it is contemplated that a perforated or foraminous blank could be otherwise provided.

Score lines 50 impressed on the sheet 46 extend completely across the blank spaced inwardly from land parallel to the edges. Lines 50 define a central body portion 52, aud edge portions 54, 56, 58 and 60. The central body portion 52 becomes the bottom and inner walls of the charcoal burner when it is set up, and edge portions 54-60 become the outer walls and the flanges and taibs therein.

The center of body portion 52 has score lines 62 thereon for dening the inner wall. A criss-cross cut is formed in the bottom 52 diagonally from the corners of the score lines 62 to the corners of a central aperture 64 to deiine the inner wall sections 16, 18, 20 and 22.

It is to be understood that the general configuration of the burner 10, although illustrated Vas square, may be of any other satisfactory shape. Also, the foraminous sheet material may be expanded fmetal, or hardware cloth, or perforated metallic foil. Aluminum foil of relatively heavy gauge is preferred because of the ease of handling and fabricating the `device and because of the economical use of material. Further, while the perferred embodiment shown in the `drawings has tabs at iboth ends of oppositely disposed outer side Wall sections, the tabs or tab may be formed at one end of each side lwall section. One or more tabs may be used depending at least in part on the height of the interior and outer side walls. The central aperture 13 necessarily 'has a width at least twice the height of the inner walls, and the inner `and outer Walls are conveniently of the same height.

It is to be understood that the specific embodiments of the invention as herein shown and described have been set forth for illustrated purposes only. Various changes in structure will no doubt occur to those skilled in the art and 'are to be understood as forming a part of the invention insofar as they fall the spirit land scope of the appended claims.

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. A charcoal burning container formed from an integral and substantially dat foraminous blank having outer `scoring spaced inwlardly from the periphery of the blank and inner scoring adjacent the center of the blank and enclosing a central area; and 4comprising a foraminous bottom, outer foraminous Wall means directed upwardly from the bottom along the outer scoring to form a foraminous peripheral outer wall of the container, and inner foraminous w-all means directed upwarly from the bottom along the inner `scoring to form `a foraminous peripheral inner wall of the container and a central opening, the foraminous bottom between the inner and outer wall means defining therewith a charcoal supporting and burning rbed around said central opening substantially eliminating vortex effects when burning the charcoal therein.

2. A charcoal burning container as claimed in claim l, wherein the inner wall means comprises a plurality of foraminous wall sections.

3. A charcoal 'burning container as claimed in claim 2, wherein the foraminous wall sections are substantially o of the same height as the outer wall means.

4. A charcoal burning container as claimed in claim l,

3 wherein the outer wall :means includes separate wall sections with iat least two 'adjacent lapped edges with yone edge having tab means engageable in the foramina in the adjacent edge.

5. A charcoal burning container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the outer wall means is in the form of a regular polygon comprising plural foraminous sections joined together by talb meanson onesection engaging foraminaron an adjacent section.

6. A charcoal burning container as claimed in claim l, wherein the inner wall means is in the form of fa regular polygon l,comprising plural foraminous wall sections.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Heller July 4, 1893 Matthias Mar. 13, 1900 1. Bowman et a1. Nov. 30, Mandeville May 23, Valentine July 6, Ochiltree Feb. 28, ,Emery July 9, v'I-Iragopian Mar. 3, LLamkin July 11, Schultz Nov. 28, Weiselberg Mar. 25, Chaplin May 13, Hinderer July 8, Broome Nov. 18, Broman Dec. Y22, Sue'hisen July 5, 

